To the novice, fly fishing to catch fish, particularly trout which feed on insects such as mayflies having numerous life cycle stages, can be a frustrating, and even an exasperating experience. Fly fishing for other fish in fresh or salt water presents similar problems in fly selection depending upon the physical characteristics of the water body including, habitat, structure or water conditions such as tide and fishing location. To the experienced fly fisherman, fly fishing is not only an art, but also a science which has basis in being able to recognize the target fishes' potential forage or prey sources, or as used in the art, to “match the hatch” and, more particularly, in trout fishing to have knowledge of changes in the hatch and its concomitant match which can occur within the hours of a morning to evening fishing expedition as different insect life cycle stages progress.
Fly fishermen previously used to “match the hatch” while trout fishing by generic tabular or graphic representation of the time of year when a particular insect hatches and of its color, such as is well illustrated in The Hatches Made Simple by Charles R. Meck, First Ed., The Countryman Press, Woodstock, Vt., 2002. So, too, in addition to localized hatch charts which have long been available to fly fishermen in printed form (and now on the Web; see, e.g., www.flyfishingreport.com), an excellent publication which illustrates the geographic diversity of insects that trout feed on is found in Caucci, et al., Hatches II, The Lyons Press, NY, N.Y., 1986. Similar publications, including periodicals, focus on the same diversity of forage problem, though generally a bit less complex, in fishing for other species, including saltwater species such as striped bass.
As set forth in the introduction to The Hatches Made Simple, Mr. Meck states that “Predicting when a hatch will occur is always a problem. If you're fishing in the morning in summer, what hatch can you expect to see? What about a summer evening—what can you expect to see at that time? How about a fall afternoon?” (P. 7). The same principles apply generally to fly selection variables in other forms of fly fishing where an angler may be targeting several different species of fish, where there are numerous potential types of forage or prey species, or where the angler may be fishing several different locations in the same day or trip. At bottom, trout and other predatory fish eat whatever is available in their locale at any particular time of the day or year. In that regard, illustrative aids for trout anglers to employ to “match the hatch,” for insects other than in book form, are fly fishing guides from Doc Sneed (www.docsneed.com; Jun. 2003), these aids comprising a pocket-sized card with a rotatable dial and illustrations and written information concerning what insects trout eat.
As succinctly disclosed at www.flyfishing-flies.com, and acknowledged in general, insects that trout eat pass through five states—egg, nymph, dun, spinner and spent. Significantly, a mayfly may mature from a larval stage and mature (egg to nymph to dun), reproduce (spinner) and die (spent) within one to three days and even in less than an entire day. Thus, if the fly fishing angler is not on target with the particular insect population in the area and its hatch and nymph to dun metamorphosis, that angler may spend a lot of time in or on the water and end up empty-handed (see Meck at p. 10). As disclosed by Meck at page 24, a mayfly is at the most vulnerable part of its lifecycle when it emerges from the larval stage as a nymph and rises to the surface of the water to begin its short-lived fly existence out of the water. As described by Caucci, et al, at page 31, “During its preoccupation with emergence, the nymph or dun reaches its peak of vulnerability. In the water, they are subjected to relentless attack by the trout. Anglers should note that, during that time, the trout become extremely selective to the physical size, color and shape of the particular species emerging and their emergence characteristics and that one must duplicate this activity if successful angling is to be experienced.”
For years, the experienced fly fishing angler has designed imitations of live insects to achieve a successful day of fly fishing, and illustrative of how to do so is found in Mayflies “Top to Bottom” by Shane Stalcup, Frank Amato Publications, Inc., Portland, Oreg., 2002. Successful imitation of available forage or prey, regardless of the target fish or locale always dictates the angler's success. However, information set forth at www.flyfishing-flies.com (Jun. 2003) notes that “[T]here are thousands, of fly patterns . . . [which have been constructed] . . . to imitate these insects at the difference states of their development . . . [and] a lot of folklore and fishing jargon surrounding these flies . . . [and that] . . . the best advice when you first start fly fishing is to ignore it all . . . [and just] . . . keep a range of imitations in your fly box to cover the life cycle of these insects from aquatic nymph to the spent dead mayfly floating on the water surface.” Accordingly, flies and fly system collections that are conventionally used and commercially available follow that simplicity and are imitations of individual insects and sets of the members of the standard nymph, dun, spinner and spent stages, or of other common forage or prey species. Illustrative of what is available commercially may be seen, for example, at the above-noted www.flyfishing-flies.com (Jun. 2003) site or through commercial catalogues for outdoor outfitters such as L. L. Bean, Orvis or Cabelas.
Moreover, although thousands of fly patterns may be known, and perhaps because of the sheer mass of information known and available, there is a need for simplification of on-the-water fly selection for certain conditions and instruction of proven methods of fishing the selected fly to enable a novice, intermediate, or even an experienced fly fisher to have a successful day. Even an experienced and well versed fly fisherman is incapable of retaining all of the various flies and methods of the numerous types of fly fishing in his mind, making even the expert in some unfamiliar location a novice. For the novice or visiting angler, specific flies and the cues to use them in conjunction with the methods to use them are a mystery, often leading to frustrating fishless days and ultimately abandonment of the location as a destination or, even worse, of the sport altogether.
Although preselected collections of removably retained fishing flies are known and marketed widely, they fail to include the most valuable and difficult information to obtain and retain, specifically oriented to the individual flies they contain; they do not include the locations and methods in which to fish them. For convenience and inventory tracking, loose flies in fly shops typically are organized by patterns in contrast to species. In addition, the sale of locally successful flies typically requires sophisticated sales advice including instruction on where to fish, and which fly to use under which conditions. Unfortunately, local fly shops' oral advice and various method instructions are almost never written, are forgotten, lost, hurried, vague or not understood and ultimately always have little value on the water. Furthermore, such sophisticated advice in conjunction with the fly itself is only available off the water, in the store, often physically located miles, hours or even days from a particular fishing location. This advice must be obtained during business hours, when the right salesman is available and not off fishing himself. The same can be said of books that include hatch charts or precise suggestions for specific flies which are not related to the physical tangible fly itself. This disjunction between the physical fly or fly selection on the water and the knowledge of how and where to fish it present a constant problem to even the most experienced angler.
A related problem presents itself not only to the angler, but also to the seller of flies. Because of the physical distance between fly shops and fishing locations and the hours a fly shop or fly seller are open, in conjunction with the early and late hours that are often best for fishing, many sales are often lost because the fly shop was not open or was located too far from the fishing location.
Now, it has been found, based upon empirical experience, that improvement for the novice, intermediate, and even the traveling or visiting expert, can be achieved by reason of the present invention described below. It also has been found, based upon empirical evidence, that improvement to remote sales of flies, independent of store hours or the provision of sophisticated advice, can be achieved by reason of the invention described below.